The Dutch road systems are impressive and don't lack investment. 

Count the lanes here as we head south.

Post war developments in Holland have been significant, be it motorways, the train service, or as here the architecture.

This simple housing development (with a rich turf roof) includes normal flats, sheltered housing, a doctors surgery and shops.

Living in Loweswater I'm not used to the city life and visits to new shopping centres such as this still come as a bit of a culture shock.

Loads of big stores, walkways, elevators, mega-video screens (though what the chimpanzee was advertising I'm not sure).

There were some famous branded shops located here too, everything was smart and relatively new.

The buildings were the same but we had to be content with standing in front of a local poster to see the tower itself.

The knave of the church suffered a major collapse in a storm in 1674 and was never rebuilt.  

Consequently the Dom Tower is set apart from the remaining structure of the Cathedral but still stands as a major landmark of the city.

Inside the St Martin's Cathedral Utrecht, also known as The Dom Church.	Classic Gothic architecture harks back to its 1580 heritage.

Outside in the cloisters as we take in the sights . . . this photo by Leny.

The old nave was never rebuilt and this area and the cloisters have been laid out as a recreational area for the town.

The renovations to the Dom Tower is hoped to be completed in the next year or so.

The old town of Utrecht also has many classic canals, which were as important in their day as the roads are nowadays.

Consequently their use is now mainly tourism based . . . apart from the occasional pirate vessel !

It also has a canal tours industry . . . the same size boats but smaller canals than Amsterdam !

Consequently traffic jams are a more frequent occurrence.	The boats on the right will just have to wait till the way ahead is clear.

On the other side of the bridge, the canal opens out onto a wider canal basin,

with more riverside cafés and shops . . . and bicycles.

Time to be heading back to the central bus station.

Note the 'bendy busses' parked opposite, which feature heavily in the Dutch bus system.

The bus and train station is overlooked by the impressive, glass fronted Utrecht Rabobank building

We said our goodbyes and headed home dropping Leny off at her house along the way.

- - - o o o - - -

Day four we had chance to meet up with Loes's brother-in-law Ronnie and his family who live on Almere Island.

Sadly her sister Bettie passed away during Covid.

Back on the road again, taking the motorway to Amsterdam and then travelling east rather than south.

Along the way we went windmill spotting.

Some were used for milling flour but others were used for pumping water to drain the land.

In latter years more modern engines were used for pumping water.

Here you can see a round tower with a steam powered 'beam engines' driving multiple water pumps.

The chimney would have vented the smoke from the central coal fired boilers and the engine would have worked whatever the weather.

Our first stop today was Muiden, for morning refreshments. 

We enjoyed the town so much last year that we decided on a return visit.

Unfortunately we took the wrong road in and found ourselves in the newer part of town

and after driving around a bit ended back at the same bridge . . . time to try again !

That's better . . . we are back at the riverside that we remembered from last year.

. . . and it was easy then to find the same restaurant pub to eat at.

This time we sat at the open air cafe close to the river . . .	. . . and watched the old sailing boat taking visitors out for a sail.

The town has a fine castle and river harbour which was important for local trade and the historic protection of old Amsterdam.

Rather than duplicate photos here I'll point you to last year's web page at the end of this one.

- - - o o o - - -     After lunch we headed a short distance across the Muiderberg bridge onto Almere Island, a large area of re-claimed land in what was the old Zuider Zee. Here we met up with Loes's brother-in-law Ronnie.     He was keen to show us around his town and the associated waterfront that gave Almere Haven its name.   We set off on foot to explore.   - - - o o o - - -

Modern Almere Haven is another 'new town' . . .	. . . but with more modest homes and shops than central Utrecht.

Much of Holland is flat and Almere Haven was no exception.  However as we walked around we were aware of steps and sloping ground.

As we climbed the gentle slope , what we found was quite surreal . . .

We had walked uphill to the sea !

The town was built below sea level and we had just climbed the large dyke that surrounds the island.

Out here was the original open sea, now constrained by the Dutch builders to become an inland sea.

- - - o o o - - -   The now mature coastline included the boat harbour and here, an enclosed sandy beach known as the Zwimstrand. It had a beach side cafe . . . and they had put the red carpet out for us ! Just had to take a picture . . . the colour almost matched the trousers.

It was towards the end of the afternoon and we decided on a beer and an early supper here as the menu looked good.

It tasted so good that I forgot to take a photo of the meal till afterwards . . .	. . . and so took a matching photo of the dessert as well !

- - - o o o - -

In the early evening we drove the short distance over to Almere Stad to visit Ronnie's family.

Say hello to Anthony and Mandy and Ronnie's grandchildren, Ama-lisa, River and Essiah.

We stayed and chatted while they had their supper and made our way back to Haarlem at the end of another busy day.

- - - o o o - - -

 

Technical note: Pictures taken with iPhone 11pro mobile phone camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . the chance to meet up with family and friends we didn't see properly last year.

Go to Home Page . . . © RmH . . . Email me here 

1. Zaandam and Amsterdam	2. Utrecht and Almere Haven	3. Buren and the 'Dam to Dam'	4. Hofgeismar and Kassel	5. Purmerend and home

Previous walk - 1 - Zaandam and Amsterdam

A previous time in the area - Last year 2022 - Naarden and The Hague

Next walk - 15th September - Buren and the 'Dam to Dam'